Sky Sports Focus

With the Fantasy Premier League community coming under the spotlight just a few hours earlier, it’s now time to cast an eye over the standings in the Sky Sports game, whilst investigating the top bonus points earners and looking forward to tonight’s episode of the Fantasy Football Club.

The Scout League

The lead at the top of the Scout League was cut over the double Gameweek, with Charles Mouzon’s “Geordie Boys” now just four points head of Chris Tuck’s “Vuvuzela Symphony”. We have a new name in third, as Paul Hennessey’s “Hennessey’s Heroes” fell away to eighth after semi-disastrous Gameweeks. A slew of managers make the most of Paul’s slide, with Simon Davies now occupying a place in our top three – his “Nags Head Rovers” outfit is ten points behind Chris Tuck, with Tony Senior remaining in fourth.

We have five managers in the top 20 overall rankings, with Charles Mouzon sitting in fifth and 42 points behind the top ranked manager in the game. The Scout League remains top of the Private League rankings, with a 24-point lead over our nearest rival.

A reminder that if you’re playing the Sky Sports game and have yet to join our league, you can sign up to the FFScout League with this Pin: 8004519. We have a home cinema system, worth £600, available to the winner.

Market Forces

Goalkeepers continue to be the at the centre the majority of trades made in the Sky Sports game, with Stoke’s Asmir Begovic party to over 33% of the transfers in made this past week. Further down the rankings, it’s no surprise to see Luis Suarez and Marouane Fellaini continue to attract interest, while Robin Van Persie is still splitting the community – 25% of transfers this week have involved the Dutchman’s arrival in squads, interestingly, however, 21% of transfers out have seen Van Persie sold on: only Newcastle’s Hatem Ben Arfa has suffered more sales since last weekend. Van Persie remains the most popular captain choice going into the weekend, however, 22% of teams currently have the United striker selected as skipper.

This week we’re also taking a look at the bonus points awards so far this season, to perhaps reveal just how these have helped to supplement the returns of some key players.

From the table, it’s clear that Mikel Arteta stands alone as a staggering bonus point magnet, earning no less than 34 points from bonus so far this term – exactly half his overall output. The Spaniard is one of those rare players who can earn bonus, both for winning 4+ tackles but also for completing 60+ passes in a match. With 10 points in tackle bonus and 24 from passing, Arteta is fully justifying his 6.2 price tag and 8.6% ownership. City’s Yaya Toure is also a protagonist, earning 22 of his 70 points from bonus to this point – 20 of those points have come from passing bonus, as Toure continues to dominate matches from the City engine room.

At just 6.7, Arsenal’s other Spaniard, Santi Cazorla, is surely a candidate for the bargain of the season in this game – not only has he fired four goals and three assists, but with 22 bonus points and no less than four man of the match awards, Cazorla has boosted his points tally to propel him to the top of the midfielder rankings.

Further down our table, both Morgan Schneiderlin and Mark Noble warrant consideration in the budget bracket. Schneiderlin has scored 18 points from bonus, helping him to a total of 53 points in total, just 3 shy of team-mate Adam Lallana who costs 0.4 more.

The Fantasy Football Club

Merse and Fenners are joined in the studio by no nonsense Hammers legend Julian Dicks, with the egg chasing Ugo Monye also paying visit, perhaps as protection. Tune in to tonight’s episode of the Fantasy Football Club at 10pm tonight on Sky Sports one.